


Teen Wolf Season 5 Alternative

by Owl_and_the_Pussycat



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-18 01:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3551216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owl_and_the_Pussycat/pseuds/Owl_and_the_Pussycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Hoech is leaving Teen Wolf, and newbies are being introduced. Here's my take on Teen Wolf S5 sans Derek Hale's exit/ character reduction and without any major new characters making an appearance. Set one week after end of season 4. Everything up until now canon compliant. Also I may have spelt Braeden's name as "Braedan"  but ahh well. You'll cope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stiles reclined on the armchair (in a horizontal position). After reclining for approximately one minute he leapt up and began pacing the kitchen. Constant vigilance. That was the unavoidable consequence of being best friends with Scott McCall and a member of a wolf pack.  
Stiles was relieved (understatement) that no one integral had died in their latest escapades. He had been convinced that Derek was dead, and that Scott was going to die, and he wouldn’t have been able to handle it if they had. And now Derek could turn into an actual full wolf! Stiles shook his head. It was weird how all the things he found out of control awesome were things that always drew in danger. 

Stiles was waiting for Scott to come pick him up as the whole pack was meeting at Derek’s loft for some sort of unofficial pack meeting. He hadn’t seen Derek and Braedan since the fateful day in Mexico, but he’d made sure to keep tabs on the older werewolf. They’d all learnt their lesson from Derek being kidnapped and deaged by Kate. Who was also still alive. 

Stiles jeep had been put under lockdown by his father for at least a month (Stiles suspected he could wear his father down after two weeks, tops) after he went to Mexico to save his friends. “To save my friends, Dad! I used that jeep to save people. You are preventing me from using my people saving jeep!” Stiles understood why he had done it. He had to proceed in his fatherly duties in some way and seeing as his only son’s life was getting crazier and crazier it was easy to take it out on something that had been there before the craziness started. 

Scott was picking him up in his mother’s car, and he tooted two long beeps. Stiles slung open the passenger of the car and wrinkled his nose.  
“Dude, it stinks of… is that mud on the seat?”  
Scott was grinning at him from the driver’s seat. “Me and Liam were out running.”  
“Liam and I,”  
“Oh, I didn’t realise you were with us as well,” Scott laughed, and Stiles shut the door, rolling his eyes.  
“We picking up anyone else?” Stiles asked.  
“Nah. Lydia’s picking up Malia and Kira, and Liam’s making his own way up.”  
“Do you think they’ll have snacks?” Stiles rubbed his stomach. “I’m starved.”  
Scott shrugged. “Who knows with Derek? We could get a five course sit down meal or a request to get the hell out.”  
”We should stop and get pizza,” Stiles decided. “Go get pizza.” Scott didn’t change direction of the car, his eyes flickering to the clock on the dashboard instead. “We’re late.”  
“He won’t mind. We’re bringing pizza.”  
“I don’t think he likes pizza.”  
“Everyone likes pizza,” Stiles exclaimed, but inwardly he thought Scott’s statement sounded about right. Of course Sourwolf wouldn’t like the one food that everyone liked.  
“I miss my jeep,” Stiles pouted as they drove past the pizza place. 

 

They had only just got into Derek’s loft when Scott started looking really cagey and twitchy.  
“What?” hissed Stiles as the door ominously swung open. Only Braedan and Derek were standing there, not looking particularly welcoming. To be precise, Braedan looked like she should be out shooting someone somewhere, not playing hostess, and Derek just looked tired and stressed out.  
“Hi,” Scott said, sounding tentative, but he wasn’t looking at Derek, but at Braedan. Braedan gave Scott a cool, “hey,” and then looked over at Derek raising her eyebrows. Derek ran his fingers through his hair.  
“Scott, Stiles. Thanks for coming.” He sounded oddly formal.  
“Hi guys,” Stiles said brightly, stepping into the loft. “Uh, is something wrong?”  
Derek scowled. “Why would you assume something’s wrong?”  
“Jeez, Derek, I don’t know. Because you’re all being so tense. And courteous. And Scott is acting really weird, which isn’t that unusual to be honest, but it only happened once we got here, so what, Is. Going. On.”  
Derek looked at Braedan. Braedan didn’t look at Derek. Scott looked from Derek to Braedan. Stiles looked from Derek to Braedan to Scott.  
A door slammed and the lift squealed its ascent.  
“Malia,” Scott murmured, and a look of “God what have I got myself into” passed over Derek’s face.  
Lydia, Kira and Malia burst into the loft. Neither Lydia or Kira had chance to say anything because Malia said loudly into the silence. “You knocked her up?” She stared at Braedan’s stomach while Scott winced, and Lydia and Kira squealed and Stiles tried to remain professionally neutral about the whole situation.

 

Braedan let everyone stare at her stomach for under a minute before taking charge.  
“I just want to say,” she said, holding up a hand, “that firstly this wasn’t my idea to tell you all. No offence. But Derek thought we should tell you because you would find out anyway. Which happened.” she said, looking pointedly at Malia. “Secondly, I will not talk baby with you. There will be no scan photos, no talks about kicks. Nothing. Thirdly, I am not even sure if I am keeping this baby. And I don’t care if that upsets some of you, or if you have some big opinion about it, because your opinion doesn’t count here. Fourthly, enjoy your little get together. I have something I need to go kill.”  
Braedan left the room, Derek hot on her heels, leaving behind them a very strained silence.  
“Uh,” Kira said, moving to stand beside Scott. “Did that just happen?”  
Stiles let out a breath. “I believe so.”  
Malia looked unconcerned. “What’s the big deal? They reproduced. It’s what humans do.”  
“Maybe we should leave,” Lydia suggested, inching towards the door.  
“What?” Scott said, sounding hurt. “We haven’t been together like this in ages. Well, a week. But, you know. Details.”  
“And last time the majority of us all got together horrible stuff happened,” Lydia pointed out.  
“Well, we can’t just leave. Derek looks like he needs moral support.” Stiles said, and was rewarded by four very dubious looks.  
“Moral support?” his very own girlfriend repeated like it was a foreign phrase. Which for her it possibly could be.  
“Yeah, you know… Like being there for him and stuff,” Stiles said, trying to think of a previous situation in which he had morally supported Derek. Asides from all the times one of the pack had died/ nearly died.  
Lydia gave him a tight smile. “I think this may be a little out of our league, Stiles.”  
“No, I’m with Stiles,” Scott said, and Stiles high fived him. “He’ll might want us to stick around, maybe he’ll want the company.”  
Lydia raised her eyes to the ceiling.  
“Hey, can you guys hear what they’re saying? I mean, obviously that you can hear private conversations is completely unethical but it’s always good to know the story before you hear it.”  
Lydia inhaled. “That completely defeats the point Stiles.”  
Malia nodded, concentrating hard. “Yeah, they’re saying-“  
“Malia,” Scott cut in. “I think we should maybe-“  
”They’re arguing. Braedan is pissed off in a pretty big way. Derek’s trying to get her to stay. Braedan says she needs to go shoot at a live target for a while before she comes back in here.”  
“Malia-“  
“Oh, she just said to Derek that she’ll be gone a week, maybe more, she’s got a job to finish off.”  
“She’s gone now.”  
“What’s happening now?” Kira asked tentatively after a couple of beats.  
“Nothing. I think he’s just standing there.”  
“He’s coming upstairs now.” Scott whispered.  
Stiles had a thought. “But if you could hear them, does that not mean that he could hear us?”  
“Duh,” Malia said. Kira cringed, and Lydia moved away from the doorway as Derek stepped through, looking about ten times more stressed and tired than he had when he went down the stairs. He also looked in no mood for company or moral support. He looked at them all, and then said levelly. “Go home.”  
“Derek are you-“  
“Go home!” Derek shouted, and they all filed out in a single file. Once they were back on the street, Lydia looked at Stiles a little superiorly.  
“Yes, okay, Lydia, we know you’re always right,” he mumbled irritably.  
“Yes, I am,” Lydia said crisply.


	2. Chapter 2

Derek paced his loft, waiting for Braedan to call, Braedan to text, Braedan to come home. Because the loft was her home now, no matter how much she would deny it. His home was her home. And their baby’s home.  
Derek had heard the heartbeat four days ago, when they were nestled together in the bed. Derek had woken suddenly, as was normal for him, and immediately heard the extra heartbeat. He had stared at Braedan’s sleeping form in awe. All he had ever done in his life was destroy people, now here was proof that he had helped create one. Braedan woke up eventually, and she raised her eyes to his, smiling sleepily. There must have been something in his expression that she recognised, because she pulled away from him and set up.  
“You know now,” she stated, and she looked worried.  
“How long have you known?” Derek asked. He wasn’t angry exactly, just curious.  
“About two weeks ago. I didn’t tell you… I couldn’t tell you. You were… You thought you were dying. You were ready to die. I couldn’t tell you.”  
Braedan looked away and Derek took hold of her hand. “We can be a family,” he said, and tried to keep his voice steady.  
Braedan turned back toward him, and then she did the unexpected. She started to cry. Braedan didn’t cry. She cried when Derek was dying. (He still classed that as dying because he did technically die despite coming back to life). But even then it had just been soft, sliding tears before she cocked her gun and went to finish off the enemy. Not full blown crying with the wracked sobs, and the shaking shoulders, like she was doing now. Derek sat up and tried to get her to look at him.  
“Hey, hey,” he said. “What’s wrong?”  
Braedan clenched her fists and visibly pulled herself together. “I can’t have this baby, Derek.”  
Derek laughed, out of a lack of something to say more than anything.  
“I can’t have this baby, Derek. I can’t bring up a child in this world. It’s too dangerous. What kind of chance does a baby who has a mercenary and a werewolf for parents have?”  
Derek stopped laughing. He tried to speak. “That’s ridiculous,” he said.  
“How many times have you died in the past year, Derek?” Braedan shot back. “How many times have I? You think so defenceless baby is going to survive what we somehow managed to survive?”  
“I won’t let anything happen,” Derek said.  
“You really think you can stop the next crazy thing that is heading towards Beacon Hills? Huh? Because there will always be something, Derek. Always.”

Since then the subject had been brought up about three times a day, and things in the loft had been tense. Both of them were on edge, waiting for the other to bring up the baby, and trying to skirt around it so that they could at least pretend to be a harmonious couple for at least a little longer.  
Braedan had been right about inviting the pack round. It had not been a good idea. He had optimistically imagined that he would break the news, and that Braedan would feel buoyed by the support and realise that the baby would have not only two guardians but eight.  
Well, Derek thought, looking out of the window, where it had begun to rain, that had backfired somewhat. 

 

Stiles ended up going with Scott to meet Liam, who had texted to say his Dad had to work a shift at the hospital so couldn’t give him a lift. Malia, Kira and Lydia had all gone back with Lydia, but he had a funny feeling Malia was going to end up in his bed tonight. As she did every day ending in “y”.  
They were both quiet as they made the drive to Liam’s house.  
“Dude, say something,” Scott said after the silence had become weird. “It’s hard to concentrate on driving when you’re not jabbering on about something.”  
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Stiles said perkily, then lapsed into silence again.  
“Stiles!”  
“Okay, okay! Uh, so that was… unexpected.”  
“Uhuh,”  
“Like, yeah, I don’t even know what to say. It’s either the cutest thing ever, or else it’s going to be a disaster.”  
“Yeah,” Scott agreed, and he sighed while pulling into Liam’s drive.  
Liam was standing on the doorstep looking nervous, as if he couldn’t work out whether he should smile or scowl at them.  
“Hey there, buddy,” Stiles slapped him on the shoulder. Liam narrowed his eyes at him.  
“Did I miss much?” Liam asked, and Scott gave him a half hearted smile. “You could say that.”

Lydia was driving with Malia in the passenger seat. They had dropped Kira off (who had Advanced Sword Training with her mother), and were cruising the streets of Beacon Hills, both of them reluctant to go home.   
“I can’t believe I’m going to be an Aunt,” Malia said, sniffing the air. “Is that Maple Syrup air freshener?” she asked, leaning forward in her seat and picking up a folded air freshener tree.  
“You’re not going to be an Aunt,” Lydia said, working it out. “Your Derek’s cousin so you’ll be the baby’s ….”  
”Cora will definitely be an Aunt, though. Do you think Cora will come back?”  
Lydia sighed. Since Malia had come to learn about her parentage she had become very intrigued by the one surviving Hale she hadn’t yet been able to meet.  
“Last I heard she was in South America,” Lydia replied. “You’d have to ask Derek.”  
“I will,” Malia said decisively.   
“So how are you and Stiles?” Lydia asked, reverting to “girl talk”.   
Malia gave her a weird look. “Am I supposed to talk about me and Stiles.”  
“Only if you want to, I guess,” Lydia said, thrown. Another girl, sitting in the same seat would have launched into talking about her boyfriend, using a tender tone, and a sweet smile.  
Malia gave her another odd look. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You suddenly smell really… sad.”  
Lydia set her jaw. “I’m trying out a new perfume,” she said breezily, and turned on her indicator.


	3. Chapter 3

Deaton called a meeting at the clinic. He didn’t say what it was regarding, which was typically Deaton. Stiles was actually the first to arrive, because he had been cruising with his father who left him off at the doors of the clinic before attending to a call. Stiles pushed open the door and looked around. It was all so white, and sterile and clinically. Like a clinic. Stiles nodded to himself and poked open the door to the room which he had upon occasion been in. Pack business.  
Stiles was immediately accosted by a gun in his face. Looking down the barrel he slowly raised his arms. “Uh, I surrender?”  
“Correct answer,” Braedan said, giving him an appraising look. Beside her Deaton was looking slightly disapproving, but he gave Stiles a warm smile and Braedan pulled herself onto the workbench beside him.  
“So, do I get a hint about why we’re here? Just a little clue? So I can stand beside you looking all smug when the others come in.”  
“I’m sure the others will be here soon,” Deaton said, spoiling the fun like always. “We may as well wait for them.”  
“I’ll give you a clue,” Braedan said, her eyes flashing.   
“No, she won’t,” Deaton apprehended, in a tone that brooked no argument.  
“Meanie,” Braedan said, polishing her gun.  
“Speaking of meanies,” Stiles said, pulling himself up beside her with a lot less grace and a lot more effort. “Where’s the one and only Sourwolf?”  
Braedan continued polishing her gun. “We had a fight. I’m not… I haven’t seen him since Tuesday.”  
“Oh,” Stiles said, and he glanced at Deaton who was studiously ignoring them.

Five minutes later, Scott and Liam had joined the party, stinking of sweat and mud.   
“Ugh,” Stiles said, “If I can smell that, what the hell can you smell?”  
Scott opened his mouth, and Stiles shook his head. “That question was rhetorical, Scott. RHETORICAL.”  
Scott shrugged. Malia came next, and she came and sat besides Stiles so she could be “as far away from those mud encrusted asshats as possible.” Stiles sniggered. Kira ran in, her cheeks flushed and her hair coming out of her ponytail. Liam jumped when she came into a stop in front of him, and she greeted them all with a smile and beseeching look.  
Scott started talking about lacrosse and everyone started arguing with him. Deaton was beginning to look a bit fed up.  
“I hear a car,” Scott said, looking suddenly alert.  
“Derek’s or Lydia’s?”  
”Lydia’s but-“  
Lydia burst through the door followed by a rather hostile looking Derek, who looked determinedly everywhere in the room apart from at Braedan, who had thankfully deemed her gun clean enough and put it away.   
“Now that you’re all here,” Deaton motioned for them all to settle down. Then he motioned to Braedan, who nodded and started talking.  
“We’re trying to find the Desert Wolf. AKA the woman I’ve been trying to find for two years, and the woman who is Malia’s mother.”   
“Why?” Malia asked.  
“Because she’s a mass murderer who nobody seems to know anything about and she’s started it again. Mass. murdering.” Braedan repeated in case anyone still had to grasp the concept.   
Stiles nudged Malia reassuringly, in case she was freaked out about this small fact about her birth mother. She really did have the worst birth parents in the whole of history.  
“Malia, you okay?” Scott asked, looking concerned.   
Malia shrugged. “She had sex with Peter. She obviously has issues.”  
“Okay, well I’ve exhausted all my leads, all my trails, all my complete off chances. But Deaton thinks he might be able to help.”  
Everyone looked at Deaton expectantly.   
“It’s not a proven method,” Deaton began optimistically, as always. “But there is a chance… Talia wiped Peter’s memory of ever having… companionship with the Desert Wolf. However, I know for a fact that she never wiped Derek’s memories relating to that name.”  
“Uh, not to be rude or anything,” Liam said, looking warily at Deaton, “But how do you know for a fact.” Stiles felt immensely proud of Liam. Running around with him and Scott, challenging authority… They had raised him well.  
Deaton smiled. “As the Hale’s druid I had to be present when Talia carried out such… procedures. I was there when she wiped the memory of the nemeton from Derek and Peter as well.”  
“But she must have thought Derek had no knowledge about the Desert Wolf, otherwise she would have wiped Derek’s memories as well,” Lydia pointed out.  
“It’s possible,” Deaton mused. “However, an alpha does not make a habit of wiping memories from their pack. They only do it if they having the information means that they will be in danger. There is a chance that Derek could have known but she thought his knowing wouldn’t put anyone in danger. After all, Derek was only seven at the time. He could have picked up the information without realising.”  
There was a moment of silence while everyone deciphered it.  
“So the plan is?” Lydia asked, raising her eyebrows.  
“It’s a long shot, and obviously only if Derek agrees… “  
Derek snapped his head up. Stiles got the impression that he hadn’t really been listening.

“But basically Peter- it has to be Peter, “ he explained, reacting to all of the shocked/angry/disgusted/are-you-stupid looks around him, “because it has to be a blood relation and someone with experience of looking through memories- but anyway, Peter will insert his claws into the back of Derek’s neck”  
“Like he did with Isaac?” Scott asked. Deaton nodded. “Like he did with Isaac, but because the memories are so old and so deeply buried the risks are a lot higher. He’ll be sifting through all of Derek’s past to try and find a single name. It won’t be at all pleasant, mentally or physically. So it’s completely up to Derek individually, and the pack as the whole.”  
“It’s a long shot, but it’s the only shot we’ve got,” Braedan reiterated and slid off the bench.  
“We’ll give you a couple of moments to discuss it as a pack,” Deaton said diplomatically and led the way off the room.

 

“I think it sounds like a horrible plan,” Stiles said, leading a discussion. “I mean, you’re talking about Peter, Peter Hale, the same Peter Hale who is locked up in a Institute for Unruly Werewolves to look through your mind. Insane Peter. Crazy Peter. Looking through your mind!”  
“Okay, Stiles, I think he gets it,” Lydia said, glancing at Derek, who looked like he had finished catching up.  
“I think we need to get that bitch,” Malia said.  
“Malia!” Kira admonished.  
“She’s a mass murdering bitch,” Malia emphasised.  
“I know but… Oh jeez you’re right, what am I doing defending a mass murdering…”  
Scott take her hand and squeezed it. “You’re just too nice,” he said with a smile.  
“Liam, what do you think?” Lydia asked, sergeant major style.  
Liam looked unsure. He looked to Derek. “I’m not sure.” Liam said. “But I don’t think what I think really counts. I think it’s what Derek thinks.”  
“Good point,” Lydia said.  
Derek was looking in the middle distance, his fingers tracing the cuffs of his sleeve. He sighed and looked up again. “I need more information,” he said, and like magic Deaton and Braedan heard the call of the uninformed and entered the room again.   
“I want to know what will happen to me if I do it.” Derek asked. “And what will happen if I don’t.”  
He addressed his words to Deaton, but his gaze kept seeking out Braedan, his irises flickering against his will.   
“Oh for Christ sake,” Braedan said, and she grabbed Derek’s hand, pulling him out of the room. “We’re just going to have a quick conversation and then we’ll be right back,” she called to the assortment of teenagers.  
Deaton raised his eyebrows and looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek let himself be seated in the chair by Braedan. He watched her warily as she dragged another chair over and sat opposite him, their knees touching.   
“Derek,” Braedan said, and then she took his hands. “Derek, I was going… Shit, this is harder than I thought.”  
Derek’s heart thudded. No. No. No.  
“I was going to tell you later on, once we got home. But you’re far too distracted and I need you to think for this. I’m keeping the baby.”  
Derek grip on her hand tightened. He felt almost sick with relief.   
“Derek.”  
“Do you mean it?” Derek asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.  
“I never… It was all talk. I wasn’t ready to face up to the reality of the situation. Obviously I still think we’re doomed.” She waved a hand as if this statement was inconsequential. “But what the hell. We’ll give it our best shot.”

Scott’s grin was the hugest Derek had ever seen it when he and Braedan re-entered the room. Kira was smiling encouragingly at them and Malia just looked bored. Lydia gave him a nod with dimples peeking out either side of her mouth. Liam offerede him a nervous smile.Stiles came over and punched him feebly on the shoulder, then did the same to Braedan. “Dibs on being godfather. Or uncle. Maybe Uncle.”  
Derek rolled his eyes. “As if I’m letting my child near you,” he said, but let enough warmth creep into his voice to let Stiles know he was joking.   
Stiles smiled. “Now there’s the Sourwolf we all know and love!”  
Deaton cleared his throat. “Okay, so in answer to your first question Derek, and you have to understand that I’ve only seen this performed once so I don’t know how accurate it is for the individual.”  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Stiles said, “Same old, same old.”  
Deaton stopped talking.  
“Oh crap, okay, sorry,” Stiles said looking apologetic.   
“You will not have much control over where Peter decides to go in your memories. You will be there beside him as he walks through your memories, most likely as a younger version of yourself.” Deaton paused. “You will be unconscious, but conscious in your memories. Your eyes will be open, but your body temperature will drop. It is likely that you will endure physical trauma.”  
“How will he endure physical trauma?” Scott asked, sounding worried.  
“The mind is very complex. Derek has some very bad memories, and although we’ll do everything possible to make sure that Peter doesn’t dwell on those, because the mind is all interlinked, and because there is no direct path to any particular memory chances are that you will come across some memories you’d rather forget. You might… react. You may slash yourself with your claws, or hit yourself off a hard object. It will be the conscious memory form trying to escape those memories.”  
“Can’t you like, I don’t know, train him or something so he doesn’t react that way?” Kira asked. Then she clamped her hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean train like a dog. I just mean, in general. Like advice.” She shot Derek a horrified look.  
Deaton looked solemn. “No. I can give him some advice but the truth of the matter is we can’t predict how Derek will react.”  
“Okay,” said Derek, taking all this information in. “So what happens if I don’t?”   
Braedan took over. “The activity of the Desert Wolf waxes and wanes. She’s not been as prolific in her killings the past year. She has a six year career of mass murdering, and she’s picking up the pace again. She’s already killed as many people this year as she had the whole of last year.”  
“And what kind of people does she kill?” Scott asked, adding hopefully. “Evil people?”  
Braedan rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I’d be sitting here asking Derek to consider letting Peter inside his head if they were.”  
“Her killings are completely random. The only link between the victims are that they all live in the same area, therefore normally have a similar socio economic background. She normally chooses an area in a town and picks people off. It’s like a game, except she’s the only one with any chance of winning. But the way her trajectory is going… It’s likely she’ll enter Beacon Hills at some point this year. Like everything eventually does. And if she does, we need to be ready. We need to know her name, what she looks like, her family background. If we have these, we might at least stand a chance.”  
“Nice speech,” Stiles said. “Answers still no though.”  
“The answer is Derek’s to give,” Braedan said, giving him a steely glare.   
“You said it was the pack decisions as well,” Stiles pointed out.  
“Derek’s vote takes precedence,” Braedan said, and she looked straight at him.  
“Derek, I understand completely that you’d be reluctant to do it. Hell.” She shrugged. “I’d hate it. But you’re the only one who can help.”  
“It’s completely up to you, Derek,” Scott said, looking unhappy about the whole situation. How things change. Not so long ago Scott would have offered Derek up to get slaughtered if it meant he could go back to his normal teenage life. Derek shook his head. That was unfair. Scott always had good in him; he was just too young and naïve to use it when he had first been bitten.  
Derek considered. “Completely up to you.” It wasn’t true. Things were barely ever completely up to your own mind, they were swayed by pressures and expectations and responsibilities.  
Derek had a responsibility to keep Beacon Hills safe.  
“I’ll do it,” he said.


End file.
